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SFE Technologies Buys Ingredients for Capacitor

SFE Technologies, a San Fernando-based electronics firm, said it has bought from General Electric patents, technology and equipment needed to make a polymer capacitor, a device used to store an electric charge.

SFE said the technology will allow it to make an inexpensive, high-performance capacitor that may be used in a variety of consumer, military and industrial products.

The company did not disclose what it paid GE.

The equipment will be moved from Hudson Falls, N.Y., to Tucson, where it plans to start a new subsidiary, SFE said. SFE officials said they also have hired six GE employees who helped develop the capacitor.

SFE said it is negotiating to buy a building in Tucson. The company said it will be aided in the venture by $10 million in industrial revenue bonds issued through the Pima County Industrial Development Authority in Tucson.

Production of the capacitor is expected to start in 12 to 18 months, the company said.

SFE's main product is a multilayer ceramic capacitor, used mostly in telecommunications.